Short but intense.
The alarms echo throughout the city, testing our readiness. But what about the warning signals in our minds—are we activating those too?
Today, sirens sounded for one minute throughout Germany. Not because of an attack, but for a scheduled test. The alerts came from the roofs of barracks and town halls, from schools and even from our mobile phones. Here is the sound:
A second siren sounded at 11:45 to signal the end of the drill.
These sounds had been absent here for years—for more than two decades, the general alarm systems remained untested. Not so in Austria, where I vividly recall the municipal siren that rang every Saturday at noon.
But we are living in new times.
And this time we took the test seriously.
In the coming days, more instructions will follow: what to keep at home, what to pack in an emergency backpack. Meanwhile, the government has already begun stockpiling supplies: food, medicine, tents.
I am prepared. Not because I'm a 'prepper', but because three years ago, when Russia invaded Ukraine, my father—a former engineering officer—was still alive and took time to give me practical advice: hand-crank torches, an always-charged radio, a generator. I supplemented these with solar panels and high-capacity power banks.
Meanwhile, this is the map of Russian drones that fell yesterday in Poland. Mniszków, south of Warsaw, is a five-hour drive from my home in East Berlin.
Wake up, Europe.
It is time to prepare: to defend the freedom and well-being we have built. Because those who tell you there is no danger are lying.
See you next time.
In the meantime, from my archives:
"Cold Feet": Italy's Suppressed Past in Ukraine
Today's post is also available as Italian and German podcasts. Both podcasts will hopefully develop their own following - also on the usual podcasting platforms-, with a focus on books, while Beyond Berlin remains an experimental blog featuring photos, short narratives, and long essays. Why am I doing this? The project is growing (well, like a🐢), and I…
Mourir pour Danzig? Die for Danzig?
In the tense months leading up to the Second World War, a single question echoed through the streets of Paris: "Mourir pour Dantzig? - Why should we die for Danzig?” This provocative phrase, scrawled on the front page of a prominent French leftist-liberal newspaper, ignited a firestorm of debate whose echoes have been heard over the past two years in th…